Back to the drawing board for $566M Marion Street project

WINNIPEG – A massive $566 million project that would have seen an underpass or overpass built at Marion St. and Archibald St. has been killed by city councillors.

City councillors voted to have the same consulting firm that came up with the initial designs look for a cheaper way to improve traffic flow around the area.

Building an underpass or overpass was second on the city’s infrastructure priority list established last year to organize which projects could be eligible for federal funding.

RELATED: Underpass on Marion St. not affordable, report recommends cheaper option

An underpass at Waverley and Taylor was the first priority while extending Chief Peguis Trail and widening Kenaston Blvd were third and fourth respectively.

“If we don’t do an underpass or overpass that absolutely changes the ranking of priorities,” said city councillor Janice Lukes, who wants council to go back and “re-prioritize” the list.

“It’s time to re-examine the list and it’s time to look at how we’re going to pay for these over the long term,” said Jino Distasio, director of the urban studies institute at the University of Winnipeg.

There are numerous infrastructure pieces other than roads that need massive amounts of work, said Distasio, pointing to the aging Louise and Arlington Bridges and upcoming water treatment upgrades as examples.

Projects of that scope will likely involve the city taking on massive amounts of debt, “We’re going to have to pay for this for fifty years. We need to make sure we pick the right projects, knowing again that we’ll have potholes that will be coming once he snow falls,” he said.

RELATED: Winnipeg report picks Waverley underpass 1st for infrastructure funds

“There are many, many competing priorities and we really don’t have the budget to deal with really most of them,” said the city’s infrastructure committee chair Marty Morantz.

But Mayor Brian Bowman doesn’t have any plans to include infrastructure projects that are not road related into the top four list.

“The number one priority for Winnipeggers is fixing the roads and we have historic funding and investments in roads and you’re starting to see it when you drive around town,” said Bowman.

When the list was put together last year, widening Kenaston Blvd. would’ve been the most desirable project but it was forced down to number four because of a potentially lengthy court battle over federal land needed for its completion.